


Silence

by Doomfang



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 12:46:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3447734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doomfang/pseuds/Doomfang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crying Hardy in Ep 8.<br/>Nuff said. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silence

Hardy stood in the doorframe and watched as Ellie escorted Ricky Gillespie down the hallway. His head was hardly turned to the side but his eyes followed every step they took.  
Ricky looked worn out. He dragged his feet over the floor and with his hunched shoulders he looked like someone had pressed all life out of him. Hardy knew that posture well. He had seen it many times after interviews. The truth had found a way again but it had left its marks on all involved.

His eyes locked onto the back of Ellie Miller. Her steps should have been victorious. She had just solved the bloody case all on her own! Instead she, too, shuffled along the hallway without any force in her step. Her left hand was tightly clasped into a fist and her right was guiding Ricky, though barely touching him. Was it the light or was her hand shaking?  
 _What had he done to her?_ Hardy had been so convinced that Lee was the murderer that he was surprised and shocked by the whole picture which had unfolded in the interview room over the last couple of hours. Life isn’t as straightforward as people would like it to be, for in the end, it had become clear that Ricky had murdered Lisa.

Again, the second time in less than three years the murderer was close family.  
 _Oh God. That was it._ Hardy uncomfortably shuffled on the spot. Good-hearted Ellie Miller, always seeing the best in people, just couldn’t see her own victory. Not when she knew about the aftermath of this discovery. She knew how this would destroy another family. Kate had lost her daughter and her niece that day, then had lost herself in the bittersweet embrace of alcohol. She had lost her husband. And soon she would lose her last bit of hope that had made her days a little brighter in all the darkness. The truth would in no way be a comfort. Lisa wouldn’t be coming back.

Hardy had noticed this change in Ellie since Joe had been arrested. She was still cheerful in (what felt to him) all the wrong places. But her jokes were a bit louder than necessary and her laughing just a second too long. She had lost the belief in the goodness of human beings. That left scars. You become watchful and suspicious and forget how to trust.  
He knew that weary look in Ellie’s eyes. Takes one to know one. He had seen it in the mirror for far too long now.  
Maybe he should go after her, check if she was alright.  
She wouldn’t want him to, he was sure. She had made it very clear that she didn’t need him in a crisis. There was no point in trying again, was there?

He turned around and entered the interview room. It was eerily silent in here now. The walls had sucked up all confessions of earlier. Still they stood unfazed by the horrors. He on the other hand felt like crumbling to pieces right then and there.  
The case file was still sitting on the table. He closed the door and reached for his wallet.  
There it was. That little photograph of Pippa which had been his companion over the last two years. He had taken it as a reminder of sorts. Whenever he had looked at it he had felt that sting of guilt in his head, that urge to make it right, to serve justice.  
It was done now. Time to let go. To close the case.

He looked into those bright little eyes. For the first time since he had seen any photo of Pippa he didn’t feel guilty. But shouldn’t he be relieved? Happy even?  
He sat down, carefully placing the photo next to Lisa’s.

This case had taken two unlived futures from their owners, had separated mothers from their children and split up good friends. It had destroyed Kate’s life, his own and now Miller’s as well. And he was responsible for that.

He took a deep breath and closed the file. The piercing feeling of guilt in his head had vanished.

There was something else building up in his guts. A feeling that he had tried desperately to keep behind mental doors. It had apparently grown. When he had locked it in it had just been sadness. Now it felt like a river filled with a mixture of desperation, horror and anger banging on the walls. The pressure was rising and then it came thundering upwards forcing its way to the surface. He grabbed the case file with shaking fingers. Hot tears filled his view and the last bit of anger made his whole body shiver. It vanished with the first tear that rolled down into his scruffy beard. The grief that took its place flooded over him so violently that he couldn’t stop himself from sobbing out loud.  
 _No._ He couldn’t do that here. There was a time and place for breaking down. But it wasn’t right here right now.

Sucking in air he tried to calm himself down. It gave him a bit of control and his pulse slowed down. He wiped the tears from his cheeks and straightened his back.  
The sadness had become a faint whisper inside his head. He still didn’t feel relief or happiness.  
In fact there was nothing. He had relied on his anger for the last two years.  
Now he was just empty.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I appreciate all comments and feedback!


End file.
